CIA General Counsel speech on hypothetical uses of force

04/12/12: Opinio Juris features commentary by Deborah Pearlstein concerning  the speech delivered by CIA General Counsel Stephen Preston at Harvard Tuesday. Pearlstein believes that the speech was important and illuminating, and feels the administration should be commended for it. However, she contends the speech raises some troubling questions about how the CIA understands the legal authority for and constraints on its drone operations, particularly with respect to its domestic authority to use force and whether or how international law constrains its actions.